What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

[bassmantweed]

I was wondering if I could use these:

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/atrium/#atrium45

As i have them on my back patio and LOVE them. A great trade off between ruggedness and sound quality. i would buy them but i think my boat stereo needs 4 ohm speakers and they are 8 ohm.

I don't really need to go loud but i am a stickler for them sounding good.

 

[yetiman]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

I have these Infinity's and love them 612M, good high and decent lows
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_18858_Infinity-Marine-612M.html

 

[airdvr1227]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

I thought my speakers were crap but all they needed was a unit with some power.

 

[2ndtry]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

No help from me, the radio broke years ago and I prefer it that way.

 

[TSL812]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

You can run 8 ohm speakers off of your stereo. Might not be quite as loud, but won't hurt it.

 

[Sharp Shooter]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

These 4 are just half of my speakers. The best music money can buy!

 

[mpod]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

http://http://wetsounds.com/
Do some research on these. Will need an amp to power them though.

 

[nikon]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

Whatever you do stay away from bose. I will admit for their size ~3" they are damn impressive, but a pair of pioneers I bought sound much better then the bose and are less than half the price.

 

[swire]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

On another forum the JL AUDIO M650 are described as the best. Of course they cost a pretty penny too.

 

[remarkable53]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

Those will be fine to use, and cause no harm to any of the components, however I would recommend you take the ones on the patio and give them a test run in the boat before you buy the 2nd pair. Work them out and listen to them at various levels and with the engine running and not. By using a 8ohm instead of a 4ohm you might hear a difference between the existing 4ohm and 8ohm but not much. I have used the self-contained speakers in lots of marine applications without any issues as regards to being 8ohm.

 

[donberry]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

ok, I believe you may be wrong about your stereo "needing" 4 ohm speakers. I don't claim to be an expert here, but my main hobby is my home stereo. 4 ohm speakers actually require more energy then 8 ohm speakers. Think of it as the lower you go in the ohm rating, the closer you are getting to a dead short. A lot of manufacturers will rate their amps at 4 ohms because they will have a higher power rating that way. Example - if a receiver is rated at 40 watts into 8 ohms, it could be 60-70 watts at 4 ohms. So they put the 60-70 wpc rating on the box because it looks better to most people. Personally I try to see the 8 ohm rating and the 4 ohm rating. The closer it gets to doubling, the better it is i.e. 40 watts into 8 ohms, 80 watts into 4 ohms. Better yet is if it is also rated at 2 ohms.
Actually, if you wanted to use 2 pairs of speakers, 8 ohms is actually better because 2 pair of 8 ohm speakers = a 4 ohm load.
So if you happen to be using 2 pair of 4 ohm speakers, your receiver is now looking at a 2 ohm load - which means it is getting pretty darn hot and heat is the killer to the electronics (especially the output transistors)
Ideally you would have a receiver that is even rated down to 2 ohms, which just means I could run those 2 pair of 4 ohm speakers and it is built to take the heat (one thing that it will probably have over a 4 ohm rated receiver is better cooling capability.)
More then you ever wanted to know huh.
Point being - 8 ohm speakers are fine. In fact, a pair of 8 ohm speakers will actually be easier on the amp in the receiver, which means it should last longer, plus if you do ever go to another pair of speakers, get another pair of 8 ohm and you are still within the receivers capability

 

[ve3rpm]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

Not trying to annoy anyone however an amp "needs" 4 ohm speakers in order to deliver the full output. Also the amp is rated say 4 ohms because it has to see that much resistance so that the transistors don't blow. 8 ohms is fine but you throttle the power output. Not a bad thing though as your bottom end will be much cleaner. Think of a higher impedance speaker like 2 hands on a wrench when you are trying to loosen a bolt. When the wrench slips off, that 2nd hand controls the first so you don't lose skin off your knuckles. Speakers are rated xdB using 1 Watt and 1 kHz and the spl measured from 1 metre away. Even though your speaker is rated 4 ohms, while playing music that impedance is constantly changing so the lower frequencies will cause the impedance to drop. While the output transistors can handle the stress of say 2 ohms occasionally, they can't constantly. Ohms Law doesn't apply to AC. 4 Ohm speakers allow the output transistors a higher current flow. That's why if you wire lower ohm speakers you will blow up your amp. Stacking speakers can be problematic as well. If you wire 2 8 ohm speakers in parallel you are indeed at 4 ohms however you have doubled up the work you are asking the amp to do. A speaker is basically an air motor. Now even though the outputs see 4 ohms that's twice the work so again... increased current.

 

[Dewi]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

I go out on the briney to get away from the sound of the 'screaming habjabs' they call music today I certainly would not have anything noise related I could manage without on-board - peace and quiet is brilliant out there

 

[bruceb58]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

Not trying to annoy anyone however an amp "needs" 4 ohm speakers in order to deliver the full output. Also the amp is rated say 4 ohms because it has to see that much resistance so that the transistors don't blow. 8 ohms is fine but you throttle the power output. Not a bad thing though as your bottom end will be much cleaner. Think of a higher impedance speaker like 2 hands on a wrench when you are trying to loosen a bolt. When the wrench slips off, that 2nd hand controls the first so you don't lose skin off your knuckles. Speakers are rated xdB using 1 Watt and 1 kHz and the spl measured from 1 metre away. Even though your speaker is rated 4 ohms, while playing music that impedance is constantly changing so the lower frequencies will cause the impedance to drop. While the output transistors can handle the stress of say 2 ohms occasionally, they can't constantly. Ohms Law doesn't apply to AC. 4 Ohm speakers allow the output transistors a higher current flow. That's why if you wire lower ohm speakers you will blow up your amp. Stacking speakers can be problematic as well. If you wire 2 8 ohm speakers in parallel you are indeed at 4 ohms however you have doubled up the work you are asking the amp to do. A speaker is basically an air motor. Now even though the outputs see 4 ohms that's twice the work so again... increased current.

What a bunch of nonsense! No ohms law for AC! Speaker is an air motor!

 

[John_S]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

Those will be fine to use, and cause no harm to any of the components, however I would recommend you take the ones on the patio and give them a test run in the boat before you buy the 2nd pair. Work them out and listen to them at various levels and with the engine running and not. By using a 8ohm instead of a 4ohm you might hear a difference between the existing 4ohm and 8ohm but not much. I have used the self-contained speakers in lots of marine applications without any issues as regards to being 8ohm.

Nothing better than trying what you already have. It is not like a boat makes a good acoustic environment. If they sound terrible in your boat, you might as well just buy closed type headphones.

 

[Silverbullet555]

Re: What do you guys (and Girls) use in your boats for speakers? Are they all junk?

I like Polk DB651 speakers in the boat.

Why? To me they sound decent. Boats are an acoustic mess so it's not going to be great.

Why else? They are cheap. You can find them for under $50 per pair on sale on amazon. If one goes bad, who cares. For $50 a pair, just replace them.

The only speaker that I spent much money on was the sub and that was only $200. The amps and wiring cost much more than that.